Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Each trip to the native land ,encompasses us in warm splendour. Each visit intrigues us to know better of the place we were born. We are also letting that to be an eyeopener to our children to make them rich with life's experiences which will take them along way. Only when we move away from our native land do we realize the value of the experience down south we have,we had and what not,living close to the parents too!

We are always undecided upto the last moment,this was one of a kind of its trip to the Northern most part of Kerala,,the Malapurram district.

A travel in to the heart of the Malabar region, the famous Maranat Mana,a 170 year old house managed and maintaned by a family of brothers for generations.

We were just in awe as the car went past their wide compound road.Totally excited on seeing the rich red loamy soil,red hand cut bricks on the boundary walls,lush green colocasias,trailing lush green violet flowered creepers on the walls,the huge old house emerged as if it was from an old vintage era,Mangalore tiled roofs,the inhouse ganesha temple,pretty corridors,the huge granary,the wooden steps,the huge mango tree the nagalingam tree and lush green yellow flowering hibiscus shrubs all over,green moss wherever you could see,..and lots more!

This home is a "pathiraukettu" which meant it had 4 courtyards,and so can we imagine the boisterity of the house,we had a glimpse of their house which even had the nagar kavu(snake temples) in one of their courtyards.I hear this house and surroundings had been in many a regional movies shot in the yesteryears.

It was a feel,which we could never get elsewhere,living in their century old home, to see them hold strong their part of the traditions. It was always wonderful to see

a family strongly believing what the ancestors believed at a time, still living and practicing it to the chore.When we struggle to make our children understand the values of our culture and traditions,the Mana stands as a testimonial to the past.This isn't a story of the past,but this is the present .This visit and stay made for a lovely lesson in why traditions begun in the first place – possibly just to bring people together. Praveen and Vidya were the hosts,as the stay were arranged by them above the granary which is theirs.

It was an absolute wonderful experience, of yesterday intertwined with today, of splendour encased in simplicity. It was a lesson in warmth and togetherness in this increasingly isolated world. It was simply beautiful.